Patient Care Ergonomics Resource Guide: Safe Patient Handling ...

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PatientCareErgonomicsResourceGuide: SafePatientHandling & Movement Department of Veterans Affairs A. Disseminate Information Across Stakeholder Groups: In order for the overall program to be successful, a careful plan of introduction is necessary. Before any new lifting or bathing equipment is placed in service, much groundwork is necessary. Three sets of educational awareness programs should be conducted: 1. Education for Managers of Direct PatientCare Staff: Management must be convinced of the value of the equipment and understand how new equipment will play an important part in the overall back injury prevention program for the organization and improving the quality of care. 2. Education for Direct PatientCare Staff: Before new equipment is introduced, direct patient care staff should receive in-service education on the philosophies of an ergonomic program, as well as why the new equipment is being introduced into their work site. Many caregivers may have been involved in the risk assessment phase. However, at this implementation phase, heavy involvement with the work force is needed in order for equipment to be accepted by staff. The benefits that equipment will have for the caregiver and patients should be highlighted. 3. Education for Patients: Plans should be discussed on the new equipment will be introduced to patients for better acceptance. Patients may be concerned with: •= Safety •= Loss of independence •= Dignity issues •= Comfort B. Involve End-Users in Selection of Equipment: To be most effective, it is paramount that ergonomic interventions for injury risk reduction meet the formal or informal approval of the end-users. In the health care industry there are two end-user groups: 1) the nurse/caregiver and 2) the patient. The common thread of strategies for acceptance of ergonomic interventions is that the end-user participates in the decision making process. Such strategies could include equipment fairs and clinical trials. Equipment fairs are a process by which multiple vendors are given the opportunity to demonstrate their products at a facility. Oftentimes, vendor-initiated demonstrations offer no comparative measure. Therefore, if a facility foresees the acquisition of multiple units of a particular type of product, it would be of tremendous benefit and timesaving advantage to invite all known vendors of applicable products to exhibit their technologies simultaneously. A conference facility or large meeting hall at the hospital might be an appropriate venue for such an event, which hospital administrators, engineering and contracting representatives, and involved caregivers are invited to attend. Much like an exposition, at this event, staff have the opportunity for hands-on interaction with like technologies, to learn from and ask questions of the vendors. We have found that a most useful method for capturing the perceptions of the staff is to ask that a simple questionnaire be completed for each reviewed technology. Following the equipment fair, 44

Ergonomic Workplace Assessments of Nursing Environments Department of Veterans Affairs questionnaire results can be compiled to learn the expressed wishes of the staff. Chapter 5 outlines strategies for end-user evaluations. Similar to an equipment fair, clinical trials offer the opportunity to learn about staff perceptions regarding particular products. This strategy may be employed where there are few competitive products that directly meet defined needs, or if findings of the equipment fair do not clearly identify a preferred solution. Clinical trials involve operational trials of products for patient handling and movement tasks. Vendor(s) are invited to trial their product at a facility for a pre-determined period, typically one month. During this period, staff are invited to use the new equipment for appropriate tasks. Feedback may be solicited from the staff either by structured or unstructured interview techniques following the completion of the trial, or by questionnaires, similar to those used in the equipment fairs. Patients might also be invited to express their opinions using similar techniques. Step 9: Monitor Results and Continuously Improve Safety on the Unit A system for monitoring and evaluation should be developed to determine what successes and failures have occurred so appropriate adjustments can be considered, as necessary. The monitoring and evaluation system is also critical to maintaining an adequate level of interest and attention for the program. The monitoring function also requires a system for data collection, similar to risk assessment. It must be determined what information will be useful in the evaluation process. Chapter 11 outlines the evaluation process in detail. 45